Garment hanger



April 29, 1947. F TALCUP 2,419,857

GARMENT HANGER Filed Dec. 15, 1944 Patented Apr. 29, 1947 "UNITE-DSTATE-S OFFICE.

d"ainni/ritiri? HANGER v Ivan F. startup, meeneem, Ina.Application'necember 13, 1944,'sri1Na 56%,978

2` Claims.

This'invention relates to a'garmenthaHg-GI,

and particularly'toone which may be extensible A further importantobject of the:` invention is to provideairounded or enlargedendon eachside of the hanger to t into the shoulder of the garmenttobecarriedthereby "so asto preserve the shoulder 'shape Vwil-,hout distortion andwithout requiring pressing even though the garment is carried' onthehangenf or 'considerable periods of time.

These and other important objects of the invention, such as .theextremely simple vmode of operation, will become apparent to thoseversed in the art in the following description of one particular form ofthe invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig.l is a View in side elevation of a structure embodying the invention;

Fig. 2, a View in end elevation;

Fig. 3, a bottom plan view with center portions cut away;

Fig. 4, a View in side elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1 but inan extended position;

Fig. 5, a top plan View; and

Fig. 6, a 4detail on an enlarged scale in bottom plan View and inpartial section of one end portion of the hanger, in modified form.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the severalviews in the drawing.

An upper portion of the hanger is formed in any suitable manner to havea hook I and a pair of downwardly and outwardly extending arms II andI2. In the present showing, this upper part is made out of a, singlepiece of wire bent around one portion against another at the hook end,as illustrated in Fig. 5, and then carried around and downwardly to atwisted portion I3 from which the ends of the wires extend in singleformation to give the legs Il and I2. To the leg II is attached in anysuitable manner, such as by looping the end of the leg II therearoundand twisting it around itself to form a hinge joint, a spring loop I4herein shown as being substantially circular in contour.

vThis loop I4 extends normally diagonally downwardly and'- outwardly`substantially in alignment with the lieg" I I andffrom thev lowerendthereof, 'a-legVl I5 onfthe one'side andlon the other side is carriedsubstantially horizontally therefrom when the `parts are in thepositions indicatedv in Fig. l.' "TheselegsIE and I6 enter within tubesI1 and I-tofnt slidably therewithin in most instances. The loop I4, aswell as theextending legs I5 andI'B-being integral parts thereof i aremade ora 'spring 'materi'al, such as spring steel, and' the' -legs I5and I 6 lare 4so formed that their 'normallyrwill'hold'thejtubes Hand I8onetangential again'st'the other. Furthermore, these arebent-inwardlyonetoward the other, `Figs. 2 'and f3, soias; t'ofprovideV an' enteringwedge formation undertherloop"I4fto serve as a guide forentrance-'ofpiecesof lclothing therebetween'such as is-suggestedby' the 'dash lines,Fig. 1, representing the cuff ends of trousers.

The same construction is employed at the end of the leg i2 in that thereis a loop of spring material I9 preferably hinged to the end of the legI2 to slope downwardly and outwardly therefrom and to have the legs 20and 2I extending from the lower portion thereof one to-ward the otherand horizontally into the ends of the tubes I'I and I8. Since the upperportion of the hanger including lthe legs II and I2 extending from thetwisted portion I3 are flexible, upward pull on the hook I0 will tend topull the respective legs carried by the loops I4 and IS inwardly withinthe tubes I1 and I8, and thereby reduce the overall effective length ofthe hanger. To retain the hanger in an extended position, such as isindicated in Fig. 4, the tubes I'I and I8 may at one end at least carrythe thumb screws 22 and 24 to extend inwardly and abut the respectivelegs 20 and 2l appearing therewithin, whereby those legs will be held inextended positions with the legs II and I2 flexing as indicated in Fig.4 to approach parallelism with the tubes II and I8.

The loops I4 and I9 not only serve as powerful springs but also are ofsufcient diameter in themselves and are so sloped that lthey will ntwithin the shoulders of a coat or jacket carried on the hanger so as tosupport the shoulder areas suiciently to retain the garments in propershape. While it has been indicated above that the cuff ends of trousersmay be entered between the bars I1 and I8, either end being usable, thewaist band of ladies skirts may be entered through either one of theloops I4 or I9 over the tubes I'I and I8 to have a skirt hang therebe- 3tween. It is to be understood that the loops i4 and I9 have suiiicientdiameter to afford clearance therethrough of that part of the garmentwhich will be carried above the tubes i1 and I8.

Where it is desired to dispense with any adjusting mechanisms, such asthe thumb screws 22 and 24, a friction retaining device may be employedas indicated in Fig. 6 on either or both ends of the tubes I1 and I8. Inthis form, the tubes I1 and i8 may have end portions bent outwardly onefrom the other slightly, and then the legs 20 and 2l, for example, wheninserted into the tubes will frictionally be gripped therewithin onopposing sides of the tube particularly toward the ends thereof, so thatthe normal tendency for the effective length of the hanger `to bereduced by upward pull on the hook I is avoided and any adjusted lengthcan be maintained under this frictional engagement.

While I have herein shown and described my invention in the form as nowbest known to me, it is obvious that structural changes may be employed,particularly inthe upper portion of the hanger and also in the extensionadjustments, all without departing from the spirit of the invention, andI therefore do not desire to be limited to that precise form beyond thelimitations as may be imposed by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A garment hanger comprising a hanger hook; a pair of arms eachoppositely extending from the hook; a substantially U-shaped springattached to each of said arms by the cross member between the legs ofthe spring, said legs sloping outwardly and downwardly, and bending backbelow said cross member directly into horizontally disposed positions toconverge one to- Ward the other to leave a V entrance therebetween insaid horizontally disposed positions; and a straight line memberinterconnecting each pair of opposing legs; said straight members beingelastically urged one against the other by said springs; said arms beingelastic and normal- 1y sloping outwardly and downwardly whereby saidspring members may be yieldingly, Variably spaced, one from the other;and said legs and said straight line members being formed to have saidinterconnection be extensible and retractible.

2. A garment hanger comprising a pair of straight line bars normallyhorizontally disposed side by side; a bar end member xed to the end ofeach of said bars and extending laterally outwardly one from the othersubstantially Within the horizontal plane of said bars, to form Vopenings therebetween at the respective ends of said bars; an arcuate,ring-like member, open on one side to have a leg from each side of thatopen- 4ing bent around acutely under said arcuate mem ber and diagonallyinwardly to merge one leg with the outer end of one of said bar endmembers and the other leg with the outer end of the other of said barend members at one end of said bars, whereby the arcuate member issupported entirely above and inclined inwardly, and upwardly from thesaid bar ends; a second like arcuate member connecting and supported bysaid bar end members at the other of said bar ends; and a hangerinterconnected with said arcuate members.

IVAN F. STALCUP.

REFEREN CES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name v Date 2,343,865 Heitzman Mar. 14,1944 2,014,165 Bentler` Sept. 10, 1 935 1 692 084 Gerard Nov 20, 1928

